Patient Satisfaction with Telehealth Services in Primary Care

Abstract

Objective:

Patient satisfaction is an imperative factor in integrating telehealth services as a treatment modality in health care systems. Here, we compared patient satisfaction from telehealth versus in-person health care visits in a large heterogeneous population.

Methods:

We conducted a retrospective cohort study of patients making telehealth or in-person primary care visits between January 2021 and August 2022. Patient satisfaction with both service types was evaluated using a validated survey. Logistic regression models were employed to assess the association between type of visit (in-person/telehealth) and patient satisfaction (satisfied/unsatisfied) while accounting for sociodemographic and clinical characteristics.

Results:

Of the 247,087 surveys included in the study, 86,580 (35%) were answered following telehealth visits. Telehealth visitors were more satisfied than in-person visitors in aspects related to doctor-patient interactions, such as “courtesy and respect,” “attentive listening,” and “coherent explanations” (aOR = 1.17, 95% CI: 1.14–1.21; aOR = 1.16, 95% CI: 1.12–1.19; aOR = 1.15, 95% CI: 1.12–1.18, respectively), and less satisfied in aspects related to indirect services, such as adherence to appointment scheduling, effort required on the part of the patient, and staff cooperation (aOR = 0.95, 95% CI: 0.93–0.97; aOR = 0.89, 95% CI: 0.87–0.91; aOR = 0.85, 95% CI: 0.83–0.87, respectively). Importantly, considerably more telehealth visits were delayed (44%) than in-person visits (27%). Adjustment for this factor further strengthened the observed association between telehealth services and patient satisfaction.

Conclusions:

While telehealth was associated with high levels of satisfaction in doctor–patient interaction, improvements are still needed in indirect services. Addressing issues related to staff cooperation and streamlining processes to reduce delays could improve overall patient satisfaction with telehealth.